Black Friday is now in play and sees plenty of deals surface, many of which see CPUs drop to their lowest price tags ever. But not all deals are equal with some even being more expensive than they were on previous sales. The team at Game Rant has stepped in to ensure users get the best possible CPU deals this shopping season by curating a list of the best CPU bargains currently available at various retailers across the country.
How Were These CPU Deals Chosen?
With discounts all across the board, it is difficult to discern what constitutes a bargain and what discounts are already priced in when it comes to picking a processor. As a result, particular focus was paid to choosing the right deals by looking at performance tiers, historical pricing and update potential by the team when picking out deals.
This has resulted in a curated list of processors that are not only excellent bargains in their own right but are some of the best gaming and productivity CPUs currently available at excellent price-to-performance ratios across the board.
The Top Black Friday CPU Deals
AMD Ryzen™ 9 7900X3D 12-Core, 24-Thread Desktop Processor
The AMD Ryzen™ 9 7900X3D 12-Core, 24-Thread Desktop Processor is the 12-core version of its X3D refresh across 3 of the Ryzen 7000 series processors that see it stack 3D V-Cache on one of the two 6-core CCUs in a bid to repeat the success that was the 5800X3D on a resurgent Ryzen 7000 lineup.
Intel Core i7-13700K
The Intel Core i7-13700K absolutely dominates the top-tier sector for value. In fact, with the right cooling and overclocking, this top-tier CPU can beat most of the non-X3D AMD competition. Plus, those who have a 600 series motherboard from their previous CPU, this will work with a bios update.The processor has 16 cores divided into 8 P-cores, 8 E-cores, and 24 processing threads. The processor comes with an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770, maximum clock speed is 5.2 GHz.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800 is a powerful 8-core, 16-thread CPU that offers the pinnacle of Zen 3 core performance that holds its own vs Intel’s 11th and 12th generation CPUs.The Octa-core CPU offers higher efficiency than its competition in addition to a high Instructions per Cycle count along with an unlocked preset, allowing users to tweak and eke out more performance from AMD’s high-end CPU that also happens to be one of the best budget gaming CPUs in 2023.
Intel Core i7-12700KF 12-Core, 20-Thread CPU
The Intel Core i7-12700KF 12-Core, 20-Thread CPU is an excellent processor for your gaming and productivity needs. With 8 Performance and 4 efficiency cores, it leverages all 12 of its cores to allow for a variety of workloads, delivering stellar performance in its GPU-less design which allows it to be a cheaper alternative to its more expensive sibling, the Core i7 12700K
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is AMD’s latest and greatest CPU when it comes to gaming. With an excellent and highly efficient gaming performance that tops the charts currently, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is here to stay and has a crown to claim thanks to its 3D V-Cache-enabled prowess when it comes to gaming on a PC.The octa-core CPU currently happens to be the fastest in the business for gaming even as it leads efficiency charts at the top, making it a very sought-after gaming upgrade.
Intel Core i5-12600K CPU
The Intel Core i5-12600K is a deca-core processor operating at a base frequency of 3.70 GHz and a boost frequency of up to 4.9 GHz. Unlike its KF variant, this comes with onboard graphics as part of its 6 performance + 4 efficiency core design.It offers 20MB of L3 cache while leveraging Intel 7 lithography to offer greater performance per watt than its predecessors.
The most aggressive CPU deals on offer this Black Friday see equal representation from both AMD and Intel with a massive discount on both, AMD’s current and last-gen CPUs as well as Intel’s 12th and 13th generation CPUs. While the 14th-generation CPUs from Intel do see price cuts in time for Black Friday, the bulk of discounts are offered on its older Alder Lake and still-relevant Raptor Lake CPUs.
The best deals from AMD for Black Friday would be a tie between the 12 Core Ryzen 9 7900X3D and the Ryzen 7 5800X. The Ryzen 9 7900X3D comes in again well below the $500 mark while offering gaming and productivity performance at a price tag that draws direct comparisons with the octa-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D which is also on sale in time for Black Friday.
At the same time, the Intel Core i5 12600K and 12700K see themselves trading at historic lows even as the 13700K moves to a lower price bound, all of which make for excellent gaming CPUs on offer for users looking for a bargain this Black Friday.
The Best Black Friday AMD CPU Deals
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D is a high-performance gaming CPU that uses a Socket AM5 socket. It’s part of the Ryzen 9 product line, which focuses on reliability and maximal power.This processor has a 16-core configuration with 32 threads. This helps in the efficient handling of data and multitasking. The Ryzen 9 7950X3D also comes with 128 MB of L3 cache memory.
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
The AMD Ryzen 7 7700x is an excellent octacore processor with 16 threads in tow. It is quite similar to the fastest gaming CPU on the market, the Ryzen 7800X3D and offers similar productivity performance even as the latter takes the lead in games thanks to its larger L3 cache.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 8-Core 16-Thread Processor
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D launched just over a year ago and still holds its own against AMD’s and Intel’s best-in-class CPUs when it comes to gaming. That alone speaks volumes about the PC gaming heavyweight processor that has simply refused to die versus subsequent iterations of Intel CPUs.
AMD processors have some deep discounts across the board. Not only does the gaming and creator-centric Ryzen 9 X3D lineup see large discounts on Amazon and other participating retailers, but the gaming favorite, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D also sees prices slightly lower than its Prime Day figures.
On the other side of the spectrum, the biggest sale when it comes to Ryzen CPUs comes not from the newer AM5 CPUs but a doorbuster deal on the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X which sees it drop well below the $200 mark, sitting at just $175 apiece for the octa-core CPU that can still hold its own with ease. A smaller discount is available on the 3D-Cache enabled version of the same in the form of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
For productivity users,large discounts are in play for the 16-core Ryzen 9 7950Xas well as the octa-core replacement for the 5800X in the form of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X. To use any of the newer CPUs, users might want to turn toGame Rant’s dedicated motherboard guide for AMD CPUs.
The Best Black Friday Intel CPU Deals
Core i5 13600KF
The Intel Core i5 13600KF Processor is an excellent workhorse. It comes unlocked, does away with the integrated graphics on its non-F variant, and proceeds to eat the last generation i7 for lunch as it dethrones it to take its position as Intel’s most complex and yet simple choice for a gaming processor when it comes to value and in-game performance for pc-builders and gamers going the Intel route.
Intel Core i9-12900K
The Intel Core i9-12900K is designed for the next generation of gaming. It enables gamers to play and multitask without compromise. This processor comes with unlocked, allowing for potential overclocking. It is equipped with integrated Intel UHD 770 Graphics for better performance without a dedicated GPU. The i9-12900K is compatible with Intel 600 series and 700 series chipset-based motherboards.
Intel also has a modest sale on its 13th-generation CPUs such as the 13700K and the 13600KF even as it chooses not to discount itsrecently-launched 14th generation CPUs that already trade at a sub 5 to 10% discounton average. It chooses to feature larger discounts on the 12th generation Alder Lake CPUs instead, offering sizeable discounts across the board for all its unlocked CPU lineups even as entry-level CPUs like the Intel Core i5 12400 remain more or less untouched by Black Friday pricing.
This results in CPUs moving across performance tiers when it comes to price points with the gaming favorite Intel Core i5 12600K and KF moving into spitting distance of their locked, lower-core counterparts. Irrespective of whether you decide to go with the Intel Core lineup from the 12th, 13th, or 14th generation, motherboards for a change, will more or less be similar in terms of choices. With many motherboards already on sale thanks to Black Friday offerings, now is one of the best times totake advantage of the comprehensive Intel motherboard guide by Game Rantto make an informed choice for your Intel CPU’s needs.
More Black Friday 2023 Deals
Looking for more deals for this Black Friday? Here are our other roundups for the best Amazon Black Friday deals of 2023:
FAQ
Q: Is There A Black Friday Sale on CPUs this year?
Yes, there is a large Black Friday Sale on CPUs this year with both AMD and Intel CPUs being available at the lowest prices they have been the entire year.
Q: Are PC Black Friday Deals live?
Black Friday deals are already live with most retailers with new offers in play throughout the weekend until Cyber Monday.
